


1064 °C

by boxofwonder



Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/F, Haru is still a rich lady betrothed to a useless asshole, Leatherjackets, and lots of feelings, punk!Makoto, steamy kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-13 20:31:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,989
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14755814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boxofwonder/pseuds/boxofwonder
Summary: Regret crushes Haru before the press conference that will declare her engagement to a man she despises.But some things burn bright enough to melt even the solid gold of the cage she is trapped in.





	1064 °C

**Author's Note:**

> This story began as a simple flashfic excerpt inspired by Hayley Kiyoko's glorious 'Curious', but my heart got waaaay too attached and here it is in its full glory.

“Lady Okumura. It is almost time for the press conference. Are you ready?”

She clutched the pendant on her throat tightly, its carefully worked edges digging into her palm, reassuring her as Haru’s heart seized with dread. “Only a moment,” she said, softly. “Would you come fetch me when it is time? I would like to step out and catch some fresh air.”

“Of course, Lady Okumura.”

He bowed and left, and so Haru found herself alone with the thoughts she had so desperately struggled to keep at bay. Alone at this door that held so many breathless memories.

She shyly touched her fingers to the knob, knowing her chance to see who she yearned to see out on the balcony was long gone. The things she had said, hauled at Makoto like weapons - pushing away the only person who had actually cared for _her_ , and not her use, or her money.

But Haru had been too afraid to break free of the golden cage. The collar around her neck, her father ready to hand the gem-encrusted leash to her fiancé.

The weight of the engagement ring on her finger burned but when she reached to slip it off, she found herself paralysed. Instead, she turned the knob at last and stepped out on the balcony.

The cool night air brushed her skin, eased the heat of discomfort lingering on her skin. She slipped the shawl off her shoulders and let them breathe, too, the same moment that she gulped for breath.

She felt her chest expand with it, the dress just a smidge too tight, cutting into her. It felt like a fitting metaphor for her life. For how she had traded wide sundresses whipping in the wind on the back of Makoto’s motorbike for this miserable present.

She grasped the engagement ring on her hand again, faltering.

She couldn’t break free, and had pushed away the only person who knew her true self. Makoto would never again climb this balcony just to kiss her good night, no matter the risk. Haru would never again lie in her arms and breathe, feeling a happiness as deep as she felt when she tilted her face to the sun, hands covered in soil, the air heavy with flowers and fresh sprouts.

What would she have left, now?

“You don’t look happy.”

Haru startled, but her heart kept racing for entirely different reasons. Hand still clasped to her chest, she whirled in place, staring wide-eyed at the figure stepping out of the dark. Makoto was wearing her familiar leather jacket, and even with her face mostly in shadow, Haru knew her eyes must have been blazing. Just from the tone of her voice alone, she shivered.

“Makoto,” she said, voice wavering with desperate hope and relief.

“If you were happy, I would’ve let you go.” Makoto stepped closer, closer, and Haru froze in place, praying for her to step close enough to touch. “You look so docile. So refined.” Each word from Makoto’s mouth was a gunshot fired at the shackles tying Haru down. “So miserable.”

“I -” Haru took a step back from the truth of Makoto’s words and how much it ached and relieved to be _seen._ Truly.

Up this close, she could see Makoto’s sharp features, the fire in her eyes. The spikes of her hair that Haru had buried her fingers into so many times. She smelled like petrol and sweat and a hint of her shampoo, and it took Haru back to nights spent tangled and bared, their bodies rocking together, their fingers and lips learning to know each others shape.

Makoto was close enough to touch her now. “I know you don’t love him.”

Haru shuddered when Makoto’s breath brushed her lips. Oh, how lonely they had been. She had not realised until seeing the one person she wanted to give herself to by _choice_.

Haru’s lips fell open to whisper her name, but Makoto stole the breath from her with a rough kiss. Her taste, her scent, her proximity hit Haru with enough force to set her _ablaze_ with every need and desire that made it impossible to settle for this miserable copy of a life. A life that was someone else’s idea.

Makoto’s hands buried in her carefully styled hair, ruining it by tugging on it, tilting her head further.

Haru came undone at the first slide of Makoto’s tongue between her lips, feeling her entire being come to life. With her own unladylike sound, she curled her fingers in the lapels of Makoto’s jacket and pressed back into her, their need clashing with enough force to make teeth click and catch on lips. Makoto moaned at the slight twinge of pain and pressed harder against her.

They were at the edge of the balcony with its light, so easily caught by any guest who had wandered into the garden. Her dress was carefully selected, prim and proper, and Makoto yanked at it without a single care.

When Haru gasped for breath Makoto pushed, crowded her against the railing, and Haru leaned into Makoto, her whole universe this burning kiss, and Makoto’s hands running down along her throat, brushing her cleavage, feeling the curve of her as if making certain she was still the same.

The passion and love was so overwhelming, Haru felt like crying. She felt so much in this moment, more than she had these past two weeks while shaping herself into the heiress she should be.

Wild and desperate, Haru grabbed for Makoto in turn, holding her cheeks, brushing through her hair, clinging to her, tugging, feeling, grasping, _holding on._ She was dizzy, breathless.

They kissed as if nothing held them back, held them apart.

As if nothing ever could.

At last, Makoto pulled away, cradling Haru’s cheeks, searching her eyes. The love in them made Haru’s heart ache with a sweet pang of pain.

“This is how you should look like.” Makoto’s thumb brushed the curve of Haru’s smile on her slick lips. “Don’t give in. _Fight._ Choose happiness.”

“How?” Haru asked, a genuine, desperate question.

Wordless, Makoto pulled her into her arms, her embrace fierce with the obvious need to protect.

Oh, how Haru loved this girl, and yearned to remain in this moment. But her dress was still too tight, and people may be watching. Her toes ached from her shoes, and as much as Haru loved to feel small and sheltered in Makoto’s arms, what she truly wished for was to be Makoto’s equal.

To wake in her arms, to be held when she was weak, and be steady when Makoto needed her to be, too.

Haru wanted Makoto, whole.

No matter the cost.

“Let me help,” Makoto breathed, and Haru could feel the way she was shaking with barely concealed rage. “I won’t let that bastard lay a single finger upon you.”

“My father -”

“That included him.”

Haru exhaled a shuddering breath. “What if he hurts you?” Not physically, no, but there were so many ways to hurt a person with such wealth backing one up.

Makoto scoffed, and squeezed Haru gently. “Then I’ll deal with it. Nothing he does could hurt me more than knowing you trapped and unhappy while someone else forces you to endure -” She cut off, her voice twisting with disdain, but smoothing to a tender promise: “Let me take you away. Tonight. Don’t go back.”

“But I -”

Makoto kissed her again, kissed the protest from her lips. Kissed her until Haru was a kindled flame, breathed to life by Makoto’s passion, her love, her devotion. “I can’t offer you what you’re used to. What you deserve. But I can offer you freedom.” Makoto took her hand and lifted her knuckles to her lips. “I offer you my life, Haru.”

Her heart almost gave out. “You … what … ?”

“You heard me,” Makoto said. “I don’t have anything to give you, to seal my promise, but I will take care of it. Just please - don’t make me leave you in this cage. I’ll be your wings if you’ll let me.”

It was a beautiful thing to say. But -

“No.” Makoto’s expression shuttered close, but Haru held tightly onto her hands, with sudden resolve. Her shoulders steeled, and a newfound power hummed through her body. That was right.

How could she reply to the woman before her so readily offering her heart, her life, with anything less than as much devotion and resolve? “Leave me here tonight. I’ll be my own wings, Mako-chan. Trust in me to make it out myself, and I will meet you tomorrow.”

“Truly?” Makoto asked, sounding uncertain until she met the full weight of Haru’s gaze.

A slow, proud smile touched her lips like a kiss all of its own. “I see. You are amazing, Haru.” She breathed a chaste kiss onto her cheek. “This energy looks so good on you, my love.”

It was Haru’s turn to lift Makoto’s hand to her lips, kissing her open palm, and then her ring finger. “Take care of a ring, and I will get rid of the one I am falsely wearing.”

And she knew she would. No matter how ugly, how terrifying. Because she couldn’t lose happiness for duty, she couldn’t imagine lying with that gross man for the sake of her father’s empire.

She wanted to follow the girl she loved.

“I hope you are ready to be the talk of the town, rebel girl.”

“Anything for you,” Makoto promised, her voice giddy with disbelieving laughter. “Anything, Haru.”

They kissed again, unhurried and sweet this time, with the assurance of having enough time to build a life together, to share kisses and laughter, grief and hope and what else life would throw them.

“I will see you then,” Makoto breathed, and kissed her one last time, a lingering promise.

Haru, her heart thudding in her chest, slipped the pendant from her head and lifted it over Makoto’s, who held perfectly still, eyes wide with shock. “It was your mother’s,” she breathed.

“So you know I will follow,” Haru replied, putting her palm over it, feeling Makoto’s heart beat beneath the pendant. Makoto’s smile was worth everything Haru would have to endure tonight, and so she answered with an honest smile of her own. “Take good care of it. And be careful on the climb down.”

“I always am,” Makoto shot back, easy, composed, as if this were just another secret meeting. “Just one last thing.” In a quick motion, Makoto shrugged out of her jacket, and Haru did not realise what she was about to do until the skin-warmed leather brushed her bare shoulders, and Makoto was close enough to see how warm her eyes were, now. “Give it back to me, okay?” She grasped Haru’s cheeks and kissed her forehead. “You know it’s my favourite.”

Haru’s mouth fell open, but before she could find the words, Makoto winked, and hopped over the railing,

Haru stood and watched as she disappeared into the night, her heart heavy with resolve and a long overdue goodbye from the home she had known so long. She felt weary, but finally, she slid the false engagement ring off her finger and clutched it tightly in her fist.  

She still stood there, the cold night air stroking her bare shoulders, as her father’s advisor found her. “Lady Okumura. It is time for the press conference.”

She took a deep breath.

It wouldn’t be the announcement anyone expected - but she wanted to be honest, be true, be _herself._

And so she would tell the world that she was promised to a wild girl with no fortune, who made her heart sing, who saw her for who she was.

Who always, always inspired her to sprout her wings.

For lack of her pendant, Haru squeezed the ring, the wrong, sharp edges a grounding sensation against her palm.

“Yes, I’m coming,” she said, voice steady, and serene.

**Author's Note:**

> I live and breathe for Makoharu setting each other free and bringing out each others true selves!! AND LEATHERJACKETS.
> 
> But please if you ever see me posting past 2 a.m. again get out the nerf guns and hunt me down.


End file.
